Mission worth accepting

Work in progress … art student Rosemarie Bilyk, 23, has just received a $1200 bursary from St George Community Housing, which will enable her to complete her fine-arts degree. Photo: Ben Rushton

Kate Brown* is on track to complete an education and disabilities studies degree at university. It is a dream that had previously been beyond her reach.

Last year she arrived on the steps of Mission Australia's offices in Surry Hills, despondent and shattered. She had just spent five months in a psychiatric clinic in Katoomba after the loss of her job and home and the breakdown of a 10-year relationship triggered a severe depression.

In Sydney, she was referred to Mission Australia's free adult education program, Catalyst Clemente, which offers 12-week university-accredited courses in the humanities.

Students are taught by university lecturers and are paired with tutors, known as learning partners, whom they meet weekly at the Mission Australia office. Although a learning disability had thwarted her three previous attempts to finish degrees, Brown was determined to complete the program.

''I took classes in Aboriginal studies, ethics, Australian literature and philosophy,'' the 42-year-old says.

''I learnt with people in my age group and my learning partners were terrific.''

Brown says socialising with fellow students renewed her confidence. The course allowed her to enrol in a bachelor of inclusive education and disability studies degree at the Australian Catholic University.

''When choosing students, we inspect their willingness and excitement to learn,'' says Diana Jazic, who runs the program at Mission Australia.

''We don't discriminate.''

Jazic says Catalyst Clemente is ''about overcoming serious challenges such as social exclusion and isolation from learning and community participation''.

''For most of them, it's the first time they've experienced university studies,'' she says. ''Some have studied before but couldn't complete them due to their personal circumstances.''

A senior lecturer in education at the University of Western Sydney, Loshini Naidoo, says poverty is probably the biggest barrier to study that people from low socio-economic backgrounds face.

''Poverty impacts upon the home environment, impacts on security, creates financial difficulties and shapes access to particular high schools, so it therefore determines a student's entry into university,'' she says. In November last year, Rosemarie Bilyk was confronted with the possibility she would have to give up her full-time studies when she realised that her savings were fast running out.

The National Art School student had moved into a St George Community Housing complex in Fairfield East a year earlier after being left homeless when her grandmother died. For three years she had been her grandmother's full-time carer.

''I'm still suffering from the grief of losing her and art has been the best therapy for me to get better,'' she says.

This month Bilyk, 23, accepted an education bursary worth $1200 from St George Community Housing that will allow her to complete the final year of her bachelor of fine arts degree.

''The money will pay off school fees and art supplies,'' she says.

''Watercolour sets are about $50, sketchbooks can be $40 and I will need a canvas roll, which is about $200, but it will last me for the year.''

Since 2005, St George Community Housing tenants have received more than 450 bursaries, valued at $380,000.

Bilyk is one of 70 tenants who have received a bursary worth between $400 and $1200 to help with their studies and boost their earning potential.

''We believe the housing is the most basic need and the second is education,'' says the chief executive of the housing provider, Nazha Saad. ''With education comes the independence, the opportunities and the choices. It's a game-changer.''

Naidoo also cites personal motivation as a crucial factor that determines someone's future.

''The opportunities are always there but a person has to be motivated because the learning is voluntary,'' she says.

''If adults also become actively involved in their children's learning they will also have greater opportunities to improve their own learning.''

For the social inclusion program manager at Parramatta College, Michael O'Hara, the biggest benefit of adult education is that it significantly boosts the students' employability.

The college runs government-funded courses designed to meet the needs of the diverse migrant population of western Sydney.

''The students need to indicate they want to further their education and find work,'' he says. ''Our courses prepare them for that.''

O'Hara says many of the students have overcome obstacles such as ill health, language and financial difficulties to enrol and study.

When Jenny Ye, 50, left Shanghai for Sydney in 2008, she gave up an established career in China's life insurance sector.

Her lack of English confined her to mundane cleaning jobs. Her age also posed a daunting barrier. But it was while she was working as a cleaner in the Parramatta College building that she decided to put down the mop and enrol as a student.

''I wanted to improve my English and find a job in retail,'' Ye says.

''A job in the supermarket will be good.'' Ye is about to complete the final level of the ''preparing for work and study'' course.

The college has arranged work experience for her at a jewellery boutique, a variety store and at a cafe.

''Since 2010 the program has taken a more holistic approach by bringing in elements from vocational education and training,'' O'Hara says.

''Students are learning English as well as doing VET [vocational education and training] courses, which means they'll be able to get a job.''

For Brown, selecting the degree in disabilities studies after completing Catalyst Clemente was the obvious choice.

''Ever since I was 17 I wanted to work in aged and disability care,'' she says.

''I didn't think I'd be laughing like this again but I am, and I'm feeling more positive about life.''

Bilyk, who counts the artworks of Caravaggio and Andy Warhol as her inspiration, is already thinking about her next move.

''I might do a tattoo apprenticeship or do honours in fine arts,'' she says. ''It's nice that now I have choices.''